Readings

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Selected Readings • Kingdom of Priests by Eugene Merrill • Between the Testaments by Charles Pfeiffer • Bible and Sword by Barbara Tuchman • Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Michael Rydelnik

• The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became

a High-Tech Military Superpower by Amir Bohbot and Yaakov Katz

• The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved

Israel by Uri Bar-Joseph

• Satellite Bible Atlas by Bill Schlegel

The Conflict Still Rages The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

By September 2000 • The Palestinian Authority had 40% of the West Bank and ruled over 98% of Palestinians. • In exchange, Israel received nothing save the mere promise of continued peaceful negotiations. • This brings us to the Camp David II meetings in 2000, as newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Clinton met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat to talk peace.

Camp David II: July 11, 2000

Barak Agreed to: • Recognize a Palestinian state within the Gaza Strip and almost 95% of the West Bank • Give up Jewish settlements that were in those territories • Allow up to 100,000 Palestinian refugees to return to Israel proper for family reunification, as well as remunerate other Palestinian refugees for land and homes that they had lost • Shared sovereignty in Jerusalem

Arafat’s Position • Israel will allow all Palestinian refugees the right to return, not just to the new Palestinian state but to Israel proper • Israel will withdraw completely to the 1967 borders • Israel will transfer sovereignty of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Palestinians • He even tried to convince President Clinton that there was no historical Jewish link to Jerusalem

Barak Could Not Agree to Such Terms • It was impossible to agree to the return of nearly 4 million Palestinian refugees to Israel proper—their return would cause such a demographic shift, Israel would cease to be a Jewish state. • Israelis would never tolerate Arab control of Jewish holy sites. • Also, Arab rulers had destroyed Jewish neighborhoods in the Old City and desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

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Intifada: Oct. 2000 – Apr. 2006

“According to the Israeli Army…Hamas carried out 51 suicide attacks, killing 272 Israelis. Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade carried out 34 each, killing 98 and 80 Israelis respectively. Almost 5,000 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed over that period.”

Mohammad al-Dura Incident September 30, 2000

Iconic in the Palestinian Movement

This photo appeared in the

New York Times (9/30/2000) with the caption:

“An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount”

A Timeline of Events • Feb. 26, 2001 – Ariel Sharon elected PM • Jan. 5, 2002 – Israel captures a Palestinian arms vessel loaded with 50 tons of weapons • Mar. 13, 2002 – United States Sponsors UN Security Council Resolution Calling for a Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel • Mar. 27, 2002 – 30 Israeli Civilians Killed in Passover Massacre • Mar. 28, 2002 – Arab League Adopts the Pan-Arab Initiative for Peace in the Middle East

A Timeline of Events • Mar. 19, 2003 – Arafat Names Mahmoud Abbas Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority • Apr. 30, 2003 – US Publishes “Road Map” towards a Middle East Peace • June 4, 2003 – Mideast Peace Summit Convened in Jordan by President Bush and Prime Ministers Sharon and Abbas

Bush Had Offered • A state to the Palestinians on the condition that they reform their government and end terror. • Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as most Israelis, welcomed the initiative, but most Palestinians rejected the offer. • Both Israelis and Palestinians gave verbal agreement to the Road Map; Abbas, however, refused to deal with terrorism.

June 19, 2003 – Israel Begins Construction of West Bank Security Wall/Fence

Construction Began in Spring, 2002 • The goal: to prevent Palestinian terrorists from easily walking into heavily populated Israeli areas to detonate their bombs on buses or in cafes. • The wall basically follows the boundary that existed from 1948-1967 (the Green Line). • Palestinians argue that the wall creates a final border without negotiations, but there is no denying that the wall decreased terrorism.

For Example: • 2002: 60 suicide terror attacks; 2,307 wounded • 2004: 17 suicide terror attacks; 595 wounded • 2002: 220 murders • 2004: 57 murders • Ramadan Shalah, Islamic Jihad terrorist: “The separation fence…is an obstacle to the resistance, and if it were not there the situation would be entirely different.”

Israeli Deaths due to Terrorism

September, 2005 Israeli Disengagement from Gaza

Hamas Controls Gaza • It is an authoritarian, theocratic regime that has called for Jewish genocide in its charter, murdered scores of Israeli civilians, repressed Palestinian women, and harshly persecuted religious and sexual minorities. • It is designated a terrorist group by the United States, Canada, and the European Union.

An Utter Failure in Government • They have failed in providing for the basic needs of the people of Gaza. • Whether it has been spending its manpower and millions of dollars on subterranean attack tunnels into Israel – including under United Nations schools for Gaza’s children – or launching repeated military operations against Israel, they have consistently prioritized the deaths of Israelis over the lives of Palestinians.

A Timeline of Events • June 28, 2004 – First Israeli Fatalities from Hamas Rockets • Jan. 26, 2006 – Hamas Wins Palestinian Parliamentary Election • July-Aug. 2006 – Israel-Lebanon War (Hezbollah) • Nov. 27, 2007 – Annapolis Peace Conference • Nov. 14, 2008 – Hamas Fires Barrage of Rockets into Israel • Dec. 27, 2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israeli Bombardment and Occupation of Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: 1996-1999; 2009-Present

A Timeline of Events • Mar. 26, 2009 – Netanyahu Elected PM • June 4, 2009 – President Obama Supports TwoState Solution and Opposes Settlements in Cairo Speech • Mar. 19, 2011 – Hamas Rocket Fire Barrage against Israel • May 4, 2011 – Palestinian Rivals Fatah and Hamas Sign Reconciliation Pact • May 19, 2011 – President Obama Calls for Negotiations to Begin for a Palestinian State Based on Israel's Pre-1967 Borders

A Timeline of Events • Jan. 25, 2012 – Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks in Jordan End without Progress • Oct. 24, 2012 – Palestinians in Gaza Fire 60 Rockets into Israel • Nov. 14, 2012 – Israel Launches Operation Pillar of Defense against Hamas Militants in the Gaza Strip • Nov. 29, 2012 – United Nations Votes to Accept Palestine as a Non-Member Observer State • July 29, 2013 – Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks Resume in Washington, DC

A Timeline of Events • Apr. 23, 2014 – Hamas and Fatah Announce Agreement to Form a Unity Government • June 13, 2014 – Palestinians in Gaza Begin Series of Rocket Attacks against Israel • July 8, 2014 – Israel Launches Operation Protective Edge against Hamas Militants in Gaza • Mar. 16, 2015 – Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Says No to Two-State Solution on Eve of Election • May 13, 2015 - The Vatican Recognizes State of Palestine in New Treaty

Iran Nuclear Deal: 7/14/2015

A Timeline of Events • Dec. 23, 2016 – US Abstains on United Nations Resolution Condemning Israeli Settlements Allowing Motion to Pass • Feb. 6, 2017 – Israel Passes Law Retroactively Legalizing Almost 4,000 Settler Homes Built on Palestinian Land • Apr. 6, 2017 – Russia Recognizes West Jerusalem as Future Capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as Capital of Future Palestinian State • Dec. 6, 2017 - President Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Capital, Orders US Embassy to Move

US Embassy Opens in Jerusalem May 14, 2018

A Flawed Theory: Israeli Occupation “The terror would stop if only the Israelis would end the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.” Yet in July 2000, that is exactly what Ehud Barak was trying to do! Arafat refused that proposal outright; if the occupation was the cause of the violence, it could have ended with Arafat accepting the proposal.

Oh, And By The Way… • There were thousands of Palestinian attacks between 1948-67, prior to any Israeli occupation. • In 1952, there were about 3,000 incidents of cross-border violence. • From 1950-55, 503 Israelis were killed by Arab terrorists infiltrating from Jordan, 358 were killed in terrorist attacks from Egypt, and 61 were killed in attacks from Syria and Lebanon.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict • And the formation of the PLO both predate the occupation. • In 1947, when the UN partitioned Palestine into a Jewish state and a Palestinian one, the Arabs rejected the plan. • Instead, Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt took the Gaza Strip.

The Point Being: • They could easily have created a Palestinian state at that time, but they refused. • At that time (and now as well) the objection was not an occupied West Bank and Gaza, but rather the very existence of

a Jewish state.

• These groups reject Israel completely— they do not seek a Palestinian state next to Israel but a nation in place of Israel.

Another Flawed Theory: Israeli Settlements • Since 1967, Israel has built approximately 150 communities, with about 200,000 Israeli citizens. • Palestinians claim the settlements are “illegal” and have therefore caused the violence. • The Palestinian objection to the settlements is based on the assumption that Israeli settlements are foreign elements in the West Bank, which previously had been solely populated by Palestinian Arabs.

This is Patently False • That territory was never part of a Palestinian state • In fact, Jewish settlements always existed in those areas, with ancient Jewish population centers driven out when the territories were captured by Jordan and Egypt in the Israeli War of Independence of 1948. • Furthermore, willingness to dismantle the settlements has been offered by Israel numerous times and refused by Palestinian leadership.

Gaza-Israel Border Today

A Few Observations 1. Despite what the media may say, the recent protests in Gaza have nothing to do with Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem. • They had been occurring weekly since March in conjunction with a movement called “The Great March of Return.”

Observation #2 2. Hamas manipulated many Palestinian demonstrators into unwittingly rushing the Israeli border fence under false pretenses in order to produce injuries and fatalites. From the NY Times: “After midday prayers, clerics and leaders of militant factions in Gaza, led by Hamas, urged thousands of worshipers to join the protests. The fence had already been breached, they said falsely, claiming Palestinians were flooding into Israel.”

The Washington Post reported: “Organizers urged protestors over loudspeakers to burst through the fence, telling them Israeli soldiers were fleeing their positions, even as they were reinforcing them.” • Hamas co-founder, Mahmoud al-Zahar:

“When we talk about ‘peaceful resistance.’ we are deceiving the public. This is peaceful resistance bolstered by a military force and by security agencies.”

Many Protestors Were Armed • Widely circulated Arabic instructions on Facebook directed protestors to “bring a knife, dagger, or gun if available” and to breach the Israeli border and kidnap civilians. • Hamas also incentivized violence by providing payments to those injured and the families of those killed. • Hamas itself has announced that 50 of the 62 fatalities on Wednesday, May 16 were Hamas terrorists.

Observation #3 3. The people of Gaza often have no choice. • BBC’s Julia MacFarlane reports: “A boy I met in Gaza during the 2014 war was dragged from his bed at midnight, had his kneecaps shot off in a square and was told next time it would be axes – for an anti-Hamas Facebook post.” • Hamas has publicly executed those it deems “collaborators” and broken up the rare protest with gunfire.

In That Regard • Gazans cannot “vote Hamas out” because Hamas has not permitted elections since it won them and took power in 2006. • Hamas fares poorly in the polls today, but Gazans have no recourse for expressing their dissatisfaction.

Furthermore… Hamas has worked to increase chaos and casualties stemming from the protests by allowing rioters to repeatedly set fir to the Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s main avenue for international and humanitarian aid, and by turning back trucks of needed food and supplies from Israel.

We Must Also Acknowledge • Israel’s policies contribute to anger in Gaza. • The naval blockade is severe • Import/Export restrictions are inconsistent • Travel restrictions are hard on families and students • Fulbright awards withdrawn • Gazans cannot travel abroad unless they commit to not returning for a full year

Periods of Fighting • Have continued on and off from 1948 to present day. • Palestinians often commit terrorist acts, and the IDF responds. • The calls for the two-state solution have been sounded since before Israel’s inception, and yet, here we stand. • A true two-state solution remains an imaginative fiction.

Former Secretary of State, John Kerry

Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian President

Israel’s “Racism” • Currently 18 of the 120 member Knesset are Arab (15%) and 81 have served since 1948. • Compare to 3 African American members currently serving in the 100 member US Senate (3%), and 10 altogether who have served since 1865. • Or compare to the 4 Latinos currently serving in the US Senate, and the 13 who have ever been elected since the Senate was founded.

Students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem

Shopping Mall in Jerusalem

Dr. Rania Okby 1st Bedouin Physician in History

Public Transportation

Let’s Close With This:

Jeremiah 31:31-37